Titan's trial
by starshock1995
Summary: Though once an enemy of Starshield, something changed between Titanrage and him, and he is going to find out what.
1. Chapter 1

The howling winds of the Dragonblight ravaged the landscape and any travelers within, but to the self named death knight, Titanrage, it felt like any other day. He was flying back to his home in the Wyrmrest temple, still thinking about his encounter in Coldarra.

"I don't quite understand how that paladin's mind works. He fights me with little reason when he first sees me, but a few months and one conversation later and that doesn't matter to him?"

"Well," exclaimed the voice of the red dragon tailing behind him, "From what I heard, that may be the longest conversation you've had with anyone you've ever fought."

"Hmm, that is true," he pondered, "He is the only one that ever lasted that long against me. But I still think it's weird. Nothing had changed between us until then."

"If not between you, then maybe one of _you_ has canged." he inputted.

"I've been watching you since you were brought to the temple, and I have seen what you are really like. You are not an angry, visious creature. You do have a soft side, especially around Alexstrazsa, you just have a thick shell around it. Something has lowered that shell, and she may have been the one to do it."

Titan sighed and continued onward, leaving the dragon behind and arriving at the top floor of the temple, though he knew he would be in trouble. Sure enough, the dragonqueen was there, staring with concern at the tauren.

"Where were you?" she asked quietly, "I was worried about you."

"The name is Titanrage now," he yelled back. Seeing her saddened expression, he calmed down and replied, "I'm sorry, but I was worried about the captain and had to go after him."

"Well," she thought, "You came back fine, and you can take care of yourself anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. But please, let me know when you are gone."

"I will, dragonqueen."

In the next few uneventful minuted, Titan began to ponder his previous conversation with the captain, and decided to go traveling.

"Alexstrazsa, I'm leaving Northrend to meet someone, that I need to face again, but I will return soon."

"Good luck Titan," she called out to him, already flying south. "But why do you need to see this person?"

He simply cried back, "I need to ask him something!"


	2. Chapter 2

The city of Orgrimmar had never looked so promising before. The heroes and soldiers of the area were all preparing themselves for the chance to explore a newly discovered island, and an opportunity to do battle with the alliance. Titanrage was initially surprized, but he pressed on to try and find his friend. He could not see him in any of the crowds, so he went to the inns and pubs to scrounge up rumors about him, and he found some after a while.

"I don't recognize you, death knight. You look like trouble," a disgruntled barkeeper told him after a brief interrogation, "but from what you told me, the one you are looking for could handle trouble like you."

"I don't have time for your opinions on me, bartender, just tell me where he should be right now!"

"Fine then," he retaliated, shocked by his outburst, "He seems to be talking about a city of miracles, or something like that, but he hasn't told anyone where or what it is."

"Thank you. That's just what I needed to hear."

He left the bar and mounted his undead steed, preparing to fly off to the nexus again, but not long after leaving the city, he heard a voice yell out,

_"I've heard you are looking for Starshield. Come down here and I can tell you where he is."_

The voice sounded like it came from a gnome, but feeling he could handle an ambush, he flew down to where he heard the voice. Indeed, the voice had come from a gnome, an unarmed mage in citizen's attire, but before he could consider his next action, the gnome pulled out a radio device and spoke into it.

"Star, this guy is looking for you, but he looks like trouble. You think you can trust him?"

From the other end, an annoyed sounding tauren, Starshield most likely, called back. "Well, clothie, I can't see him from here. Set up the holo-projector and I'll take a look myself."

She complied and placed a round disk-like device on the ground. It looked too small to project an adequate hologram, but it actually worked, amazingly well in fact. Once the hologram appeared, the death knight immediately recognized the one at the other end.

"Starshield, I've been looking for you for a while now. Where have you been?"

"Well," Star answered, "I've decided to devote all of my time and resources into a new project, The City of Miracles. I hadn't told you about that last time we met, but I'll give you the whole story later. But let me say, it is really working out, and I want to be here to make sure it does not fall victim to attack like the last one."

"Last one?" Titan blurted out, "You did this twice?"

"Like I said, I'll tell you more later." The hologram started to fizzle out, and Starshield yelled out, "Damn this thing! It never lasts as long as I need. Anyway, you will have to see me in person; just ask Mokcie how to do that. Once you get here, we can finish this properly."

The hologram disappeared, and Titan simply grinned and asked,

"'Mokcie', how do I get to the City of Miracles?"

"Leave that to me."

She then lept on to Titan and began casting some sort of spell. Before he knew what she was doing, the two of them ended up in a large blue dome, a tunnel leading outside not far from them. Mokcie led him to the end of the tunnel, where a draenei and a tauren sentry stodd blocking them, the draenei stating,

"To enter, present your badge. Any forced entry would be ill-adviced."

"Well you would think so." Mokcie responded, presenting a vague blue symbol, and the guards let the two pass. Once the gate was opened, Titan was awestruck at what he saw. Enormous and well kept building were sprawled out across the land, a starry sky veiled the entire sky, and the sounds of liveliness were heard in the not-so-distant city.

"So Titan, are you impressed?"

He simply stared at his surrounding and looking back at Mokcie, quietly nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

After marveling at this wonder of mortal creation, Titan and Mokcie made their way into the city to find Starshield. In the center of the island, the executive tower stood tall, radiating incredible energy, and an equally powerful presence. At the gate stood an emormous mechanical golem, noticing Titan and Mokcie's presence by blaring its warning.

"THIS BUILDING HAS BEEN LOCKED DOWN TO ALL BUT OUR MOST CRITICAL PERSONEL DUE TO SUB-ANNUAL MAINTINENCE!"

Mokcie then whispered to Titan, "This creature is known as a sentinel. They were designed to protect the inner city from strong intruders. After the incident that ruined the last City of Miracles, Starshield is not taking any chances."

"Wait, Starshield commissioned the creation of these monsters!?" Titan yelled in shock. "Isn't that jumping the gun a bit?"

Mokcie calmly responded, "Titan, one of our last members sold us out. There is no other way the Stormwind army could have gotten there. We cannot do anything to prevent that from happening again, but we need to raise an army to keep any hostile forces at bay. For now, these creature will do."

Mokcie turned to face the sentinel and called out to it,

"Sentinel, as the designated guard of the executive tower, can you tell me where Starshield will be until maintinence is complete?"

"IDENTITY CONFIRMED: MADAM MOKCIE! PRESIDENT STARSHIELD IS WORKING ON A PROJECT IN THE ENGINEERING DISTRICT!"

With that, the two of them ran off to the engineering facility's main workshop, a large and rather impsoing dome. As they opened the door, Starshield noticed immediately and turned to the door, his look of surprize replaced by one of happiness as he recognized his old friend.

"Titanrage, it is you!" he said, walking up and embracing him. "I did not think you would ever get to see me again."

Titan sighed and responded, "I had to see you again, but I can't quite explain why. But what about you? Why did you bring me here?"

"Well, I didn't expect it to happen this soon, but- Never mind, let's just get to where it started.

"When I flew up to the Nexus for reasons I can't tell you about yet, we ran into each other for the first time in ages. I expected us to end up fighting like our prior encounter in that gnome town. But we didn't even exchange blows. At that moment, I knew something about you had changed. I don't know why, but something changed. With that development and your already formidable ability, I thought that you would be ready to join me and the great heroes I've assembled here."

"Starshield, thank you. I'm flattered," Titan interrupted. "But I'm still a tad confused. What _is_ The City of Miracles, what are those robots, and what has happened over these past few months that led you to do this?"

"I'll tell you everything soon enough. For now, let me show you around...

* * *

As Starshield showed his guest around the City of Miracles, he told him everyting about it. He told him of the spirit that warned of the danger the horde and alliance could face, the districts he had created within the city, the destruction of the first city, and the events that led him to build a new one. He never explained why he had to go to the nexus, but Titan did not need to know that. He was just glad that his questions were being answered.

"And what of this leader? This new guardian you have met?" Titan asked, referring to 'the city's spiritual guide' that he mentioned near the end of his little history lesson.

Starshield, visibly puzzled by what to say, simply brushed him aside, saying "I hate to say, but I can't tell you that until I know you can handle this, especially given your connection to the red dragons."

"Wait, how did you-"

"I saw you fly off with that dragon when we met at Coldarra. It doesn't matter. I just can't trust you with the truth of the matter until you have finished this task I have for you."

"What task?" Titan asked, startled by Star's last minute surprize.

"Well, the city of miracles is a research facility above all else, so I need to see what you can do..."


	4. Chapter 4

"Titan," Starshield began to ask, "Do you want to change the world, and yourself, for the better?"

Titan began to think about what that meant, but when he realized what Star was saying, he remembered his days with Alexstrasza, how everything began to change when she let her dragons teach him to control himself. He didn't remember everything that happened, but he remembered her encouragement, even at his worst moments, and how he and Starshield seemed to ignore their hostile past and became friends almost instantly.

Titan then answered, "Yes, I do."

Starshield merely nodded and started to speak.

"Titan, from what I've learned in my many adventures, and from what I've seen from you, I've realized that people can never stop growing. They always learn how to improve their actions and the thought that goes into them. Though I did not see this at first, what our leader wanted to do was to create a place to nurture that growth, a place where people can change for the better. A world filled with constant war amongst each other is no place for that kind of growth, and our leader knows this. He knows that we are shaped by our surroundings, but only those willing to change their ways can make use of what the city has to offer. You have proven that you are one of those people."

He then placed a small blue badge on Titan's hand, and smiled.

"Welcome to the city, Titan."

"Thank you Starshield." he said, grinning about this surprize. "Alexstrasza would be overjoyed to hear about this place, I must go-

"No Titan, you can't." Starshield stearnly commanded. "Alexstrasza may have once been one of the aspects, but, and even if she still was, she must never find out about us, or our leader. She would not trust him, not after his past actions, and she might be driven to extreme actions herself."

He frowned at this revelation, but Star continued. "I cannot, however, stop you from making contact with her again. She is your friend and mentor, and you can still learn from her. Just be weary of your words to her."

* * *

A few weeks after being introduced to the city, Titan was wandering around the recently completed social sciences district, thinking about research into hierarchy among various kingdoms, when he started thinking about the lack of direction among the ebon knights.

"How did it never hid me? We are an organization of once scourge minions, and yet Mograine had merely let us out to the world of the living again. What led him to believe we still belong here, after all he had been through? Does he allow this because the world accepts our existence...?"

"Or is it because you refused to let them reject you?" a voice called back to him.

"After a series of events like what you and the death knights have gone through, the world began to fear, even despise, your kind. But the actions of the knights of the ebon blade, and their ability to let go of that past, helped the living world see past that."

_"You are always growing, and so are they."_


End file.
